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If you plan to carry out construction that will affect your neighbours, you must comply with the rules laid out in the Party Wall etc. Act of 1996. The first and most essential rule is that you must serve notice on the adjoining owner. You need to do this well in advance of any work starting and ideally, you want to get the adjoining owner to agree in writing to the work. If the adjoining owner doesn’t agree or if they put up some other form of dissent, you have a dispute on your hands and you will need to engage party wall surveyors.
If you are doing building work that is covered under the Act, you must serve notice to neighbouring owners. You must allow them to into what you will be doing and where. This is because the Act covers, among other things, the construction of a wall up to or astride the boundary line of your two properties and the excavation of soil near a neighbour’s foundation. It also covers direct party wall work. If any of this seems to apply to you, then you must serve notice to your neighbours.
A Party Wall notice essentially performs the function of informing one’s neighbours of impending work that might affect them—specifically, work covered by the 1996 Act. For those carrying out “notifiable work,” setting into motion the process established by the Act is advisable, since neighbours can not unreasonably withhold consent to the work itself, and an amicable agreement reached in advance makes the on-site carrying out of the work smoother. Often, however, Party Wall Surveyors can help draw up the notice authoritatively.
A Part Wall Agreement is made between two property owners when one intends to do work that would affect the dividing line wall (a “party wall”) between the two properties. The dividing wall is the halfway point between the two properties, and each owner is considered to have a wall in his or her own property. If work is planned that would affect a wall between the two properties, an agreement must be reached before the work can go ahead. Otherwise, legal action might result, and that would disrupt the entire project in question.
If the neighbour (the adjoining owner) wants to change something in what has been proposed in the party wall notice, they serve a counter-notice. Most of the time, the neighbour who serves a counter-notice is expected to pay for any extra work that isn’t needed in the original proposal and is also required to give access to the workmen on their side of the structure (e.g. if the work included anything on the chimney stack that’s a part of the neighbour’s side of the stack).
There are strict time limits associated with party wall agreements and the Act provides a timeline for the process. The first step is for the Building Owner to serve a notice on the Adjoining Owner. This notice must be served at least two months before the Building Owner wishes to commence work on a party wall or party structure. The notice period is reduced to one month if the work involves an excavation or the construction of a new wall. After receiving the notice, the Adjoining Owner has 14 days to respond.
The Party Wall process can stretch out over several weeks or months, sometimes years if there is a serious legal dispute. This is primarily the result of the surveyors needing to take a thorough approach at investigating the proposed works, investigate the current state of the wall, and then prepare and serve their award. Surveys tend to take longer when the proposed works are controversial or keep changing. So, really, the best way for the Building Owner to ensure a smooth and speedy Party Wall process is to present accurate plans—compliant from the outset.
Sometimes, when a notice is sent, the neighbour just does not respond. This is not considered consent. In fact, the Party Wall Act clearly considers non-response as dissent. If the neighbour is not going to respond to the notice, by law, we must assume they are dissenting (“Adjoining Owner” means any property that shares a boundary with your property.) Your surveyor would have to send a second notice, which comes with a 10-day time limit. At this stage, we can not assume anything, and your surveyor must remain impartial.
Neighbours often refuse to consent to a Party Wall Notice. They have that right under the Act, but that will not stop the works from proceeding. Neighbourly disputes over party walls could be avoided altogether at the outset if homeowners and builders simply explained their plans to their neighbours before serving a Notice. Yes, there are several possible responses to a Party Wall Notice, and yes, a refusal is one of them, but refusals to consent tend to be the reply most frequently given by neighbours who worry that the process may undermine their own property’s value.
Other owners might consent to the work, allowing you to proceed with your plans without delay. Adjoining owners can also agree but on the condition that you, the building owner, arrange for a party wall surveyor to create a Schedule of Condition for the next-door owner’s property. That protects both property owners in respect of liability.
When neighbours can not come to a mutual agreement, the next step is to appoint a surveyor they can both agree on or to hire separate surveyors to work on their behalf. The key is that the party wall work should be overseen by independent and impartial surveyors who, it should be noted, are statutorily appointed by the Act.
Yes, but a schedule of condition isn’t mandatory for Party Wall Awards. It is in everyone’s interest for the surveyor(s) to visit the Adjoining Owner’s property and make detailed notes of its condition.
What is the best way to ensure a good relationship with my neighbour in the context of a party wall? The best way, and certainly the simplest, is to keep them informed in advance and consider making some reasonable allowances for any design changes they might want to your wall. If good communication and neighbourliness are kept as primary objectives, the signed agreement will more likely serve as a road map to overcome hurdles.
Your neighbour can not stop the party wall agreement once the Act has been invoked. However, either party can delay the process. The adjoining owner often contests aspects of the work and raises concerns regarding health and safety, as well as access and nuisance (e.g. rubbish and noise). The building owner can also be the cause of most delays, either because they revise their plans one too many times or because they violate the Act.
If any work has been done that could relate to a future party wall dispute, a house sale might be at risk unless the conveyancers for the buyer can see a party wall award that covers off works previously completed.
Resolving a Party Wall dispute hinges on the type of disagreement. If you and your neighbour are at odds over something that could easily be modified in your construction plans (like the design of a basement, for instance), you might manage to work something out and put it in writing without needing to involve surveyors. But if your neighbour seems hell-bent on not letting you build, you should definitely start the legal process: serve them with notice and get an experienced surveyor to draw up the plans for your project.
Consult your Party Wall Surveyor if you have any other unresolved issues that are likely to affect the works. A dispute over your proposed works with the adjoining owner does not mean it’s the end of the road. Remember, your Party Wall Surveyor makes his or her determination not only for you but also for the adjoining owner, and that determination is all about keeping the peace and minimising potential damage.
When you and your neighbour can come to an agreement on one Party Wall surveyor, you can appoint an Agreed Party Wall Surveyor. In some circumstances, however, if a Party Wall Notice and relevant follow-up letters go unanswered, each owner must then appoint their own surveyor for the job.
RICS’s industry guidelines suggest building surveys for properties that are large, very old, in some disrepair, or have unusual features. Building surveys are also recommended if you plan to do any significant renovations or extensions.
If you’re purchasing a relatively modern home that’s in decent shape and built to ordinary standards, then a Home Buyer Survey is an acceptable choice. If you want the assurance of an inspection and report that are pretty much guaranteed to turn up any issues that might be hidden or just hard to see, then you should go for a Full Building Survey instead.
The Full Building Survey is more detailed; it is more specifically tailored to the property your surveyor would be inspecting. It also comes with more advice on the visible defects found and on the potential hidden defects that they suspect may be present. Your surveyor will illustrate reports with photographs so that you can clearly see what has been discovered. Both the Home Buyer and Full Building Surveys describe the repairs needed, the order in which the repairs should be done, and the kind of “maintenance measures” that will be required to keep the property in good condition.
A HomeBuyer Report does include a market valuation as well as reinstatement costs. However, a Full Building Survey does not. The main reason for the differences in what is and isn’t included in the two types of reports is how focused the reports are on the condition of the property. The Full Building Survey is the most in-depth and comprehensive survey of a property that you can have done.
Yes. The legal document known as a “party wall award” delineates the proposed construction work, the manner and timing of its execution, and the fee arrangement for the surveyors whose services will be required. It possesses legal authority if the project is ever challenged in court.
Looking for a Chartered Surveyor? If you are buying a property, contact us for a building survey. Our panel of CIOB, RPSA and RICS surveyors will help you with the Level 2 or Level 3 property survey you need in Notting Hill. We can also assist you in Red Book Valuations, Party Wall Awards and other services. Reach out to us today for building surveyors, valuers and party wall surveyors in London!
